Heinrich Christoph Albrecht

Heinrich Christoph Albrecht (* 1762 in Hamburg ; † August 11, 1800 at Gut Kieleseng near Flensburg ) was a German philologist and politically belongs to the German Jacobins .

Life

Albrecht visited the Johanneum in Hamburg. He then studied Protestant theology and philosophy in Göttingen . He also acquired a thorough knowledge of the English language. Later he and his brothers founded an educational institute in Eppendorf . From 1794 he lived as a publicist on his estate near Flensburg.

Political positions

Albrecht belonged to a corner lodge in Hamburg, in which, in particular, some democratically minded people met. He was married to the sister of Christine Westphalen, who also emerged as a political poet . Together with this he wrote political poems. Politically, he is one of the northern German Jacobins. He was an advocate of human rights and the principle of popular sovereignty . In addition, he had a keen interest in political and economic history and development.

Mentally, he stood on the borderline between liberal and radical attitudes. He criticized the limits of people's participation in the English constitution and was a supporter of Thomas Paine . He defended Adolph Knigge against the criticism of the anti-revolutionary Johann Georg von Zimmermann . But the social divide and the emerging capitalist economy also played an important role in his thinking.

He saw the solution to the social question in education and in a fair tax system. He wanted to enforce the principle of popular sovereignty without violence. In his essay on Patriotism , Albrecht spoke out in favor of a fraternal community. This should take the place of the opposition between a privileged minority and the majority without political rights. For Albrecht, patriotism was associated with friendship between peoples, solidarity with the people, pacifism and the abolition of all professional privileges. The political ideal was a parliamentary republic that guaranteed human rights. He criticized the factory system and the exploitation of workers. He contrasted this with the wealth of the upper class. With regard to the English workers, however, he painted a less idealized picture. There it was said: As long as their dependent situation lasts, no more will be enlightened and civilized than free. in an occasional free hour, it is only animal pleasure that nature seeks (...)

Writing

He translated some of Shakespeare's poems into German. He also wrote an attempt at critical English language teaching (1784) or A short Grammar of the German tongue (1786). In 1791 he published the magazine Neue Hamburgische Dramaturgie , the publication of which was discontinued after sixteen issues. The Secret Story of a Rosicrucian appeared in print in 1792 . This writing had already appeared in the Braunschweigischer Journal in 1791. He also wrote studies on the English constitution (2nd parts, 1794), studies on true and fabulous theology as a translation by Thomas Paine (1794), Carl the First, King of England. Life and deeds - dramatically edited. (1796). Various articles appeared in the Hamburg monthly and other magazines. Anonymous he wrote some writings in defense of the barons of Knigge.

Works (selection)

• Investigations into the English constitution. According to the latest indications in the history of the country. Part 1 Lübeck, Leipzig, 1797 digitized
• Materials on a Critical History of Freemasonry. Hamburg, 1792 digitized
• A short grammar of the German tongue . Hamburg, 1786 digitized

literature

• Christa Jahnsohn and Dieter Mehl: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece in the translation by Heinrich Christoph Albrecht. In: Roger Paulin (ed.). Shakespeare in the 18th century, Göttingen, 2007 pp. 42–64.
• Walter Grab : Democratic currents in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein at the time of the first French republic . Hans Christians Verlag, Hamburg 1966, pp. 67–74- (= publications of the Association for Hamburg History . Volume XXI)
• New historical hand lexicon or brief biographical and historical news (...) Vol. 5 Ulm, 1803 Sp, 9f.
• Lexicon of Hamburg writers. Issue 1. Hamburg, 1849 pp. 38–40

Individual evidence

1. ^ Barbara Richter: Franz Heinrich Ziegenhagen. Münster et al., 2003 p. 229.
2. ↑ Inge Stephan: Staged Femininity. Cologne, 2004 p. 163.
3. ↑ Roland Ludwig: The Reception of the English Revolution in German Political Thought and German Historiography in the 18th and 19th Centuries, Leipzig, 2002 190f.
4. ^ Elisabeth Fehrenbach : Political upheaval and social movement, Munich, 1997 p. 37.
5. ↑ Werner Conze. Freedom. In: Basic historical concepts. Vol. 2 Stuttgart, 1975 p. 524; Wolfgang Förster: Classical German Philosophy. Baseline of their development. Frankfurt am Main, 2008 335f.